


Before the Dawn (Fanfic [of a fanfic?])

by whittler_of_words



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Slavery, Blood, Karkat Vantas - Freeform, M/M, Slavery, Violence, john egbert - Freeform, slavestuck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-16
Updated: 2013-07-16
Packaged: 2017-12-20 08:30:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/885160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whittler_of_words/pseuds/whittler_of_words
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been almost a year since John was captured and sold into slavery, only to be bought and rescued by one Karkat Vantas. </p><p>~quick note~<br/>While this is technically a "continuation" of Zilleniose's "Before the Dawn", it's a completely different work that shouldn't be seen as canonical with hers, plot-wise, at least (although it's strongly suggested you read her Prelude and Exposition first for full understanding). If you are as obsessed of a JohnKat shipper as me, you should definitely check out her other work and tumblr!<br/>~note over~</p>
            </blockquote>





	Before the Dawn (Fanfic [of a fanfic?])

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Before the Dawn - Prelude](https://archiveofourown.org/works/493344) by [orphan_account](https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account). 



> Thanks for taking the time to read this! As stated in the summary, this is a technical continuation to Zilleniose's two Before the Dawn Fanfics. So, a fanfic of a fanfic~! It's strongly suggested you also check out One Stormy Night and Dead of Night as well. I apologize for the inconsistincies and spelling errors that are bound to be scattered throughout. I'm allergic to doing research ;_;

John stood on the deck of the ship, a cool breeze running through his hair as the late-afternoon sun began its slow descent towards the horizon. It had been...how long was it? Almost a year? Since Karkat had saved him from the oh-so-worse-than-hell that would have been his life if he had been bought by anyone else. As it was, he had to spend ten days in that cage, hurt and abused mercilessly by slave traders, treated like an animal - no, he doubted they treated their animals that way - forced onto display and humiliated, over and over again... And, if not even worse in his own mind, were the screams. Oh god, the screams that he couldn't forget not matter how hard he tried! John's breath quickened. The screams of his friends as their ship plummeted, one second they were laughing and joking and the next they were thrown into the air,t he crunch of glasses breaking as their world spun. Then the bright sun and the confusion and even worse the screams as they were found and taken and then...darkness. And pain.

John curled in on himself, pushed his head toward his center and his arms over his head, his hands grasping at his own hair because he needed /something/ to hold onto or he would lost it. Again. How many times had he woken up from the nightmares screaming, surfacing from visions of gray claws piercing his skin and dragging him away as he watched his friends getting torn into, and he had to repeat to himself over and over it was just a dream, it was just a dream? He need to calm down - it wasn't fair to Karkat. Every time the nightmares had gripped him enough to become vocal, his friend had drudged himself up from the sopor slime and comforted him as best he could. John had tried his best to stop the flow of tears that were beginning to spill over his cheeks. That's right, he needed to stray strong, for Karkat. He had done so much for him, taken him in when he could have so easily left John in that cage to rot, or left him to another troll, and all he had done to pay him back was cry and slobber all over his shoulder.

Well. That wasn't /all/ he had done. Thinking about it brought a fierce blush to his face. Only a few months after his purchase and one thing had led to another and... bingo, a first-hand anatomy lesson. To be fair, it /did/ start out as a purely scientific exploration, mostly due to prompting on John's part. But not too far in both of them had gotten a bit... involved. Afterwards, it had been a bit awkward between them, but as the language barrier had started breaking down even further, they both began to realize that their feeling for each other were a little more, well, flushed. Did they even fit into a quadrant as different species? John didn't know, and, frankly, he didn't care. It was nice, really nice in fact, and he wasn't planning on giving it up anytime soon. 

Thinking about Karkat had helped John calm down immensely. He raised his head from the almost fetal-position he had been in the whole time and wiped away the tears, rubbing at his eyes. When he opened them, he almost fell over. While he had been wallowing in his memories (for what had apparently been a longer time than he thought), another ship had gotten close enough for him to see a few shapes on deck. The ship was bigger than Karkat's, and even though he knew that Karkat's ship was smaller than most trolls' who could afford such a luxury, he could tell that this one was still pretty huge, even by troll standards. He leaned forward, his hands shading his eyes against the already evening sun so he could see better.

John could make out what looked to be a troll...girl? Yes, it must be, seeing as how she had long braids, and sunlight glittered off what he guessed was jewelery adorning her hands and around her neck. She was holding what seemed to be a double-edged trident sorta thingy, and was looking down at...something. What was that? John leaned over the edge of the deck even further, trying to make out the small shape hunched on the ground. Was that a...troll? The other ship was edging closer now, so close he could see the sunlight glinting off the edge of the pointed teeth of the female troll. She seemed to be laughing at some sort of joke. The figure on the ground was laughing too, and it had the same gray skin, but it seemed...off, somehow. That's odd. John flushed slightly, in confusion and slight embarrassment. Was it not wearing any clothes? He could hear the growls of the other troll as the wind carried her voice over the waves. John's hairs raised on the back of his neck, and he shivered in fear by pure reflex. He'd heard that growl too many times before; the growl that meant that the orders took too long to be carried out, the slave was out of its place and it needed to be taught a lesson. What was going on?

John could see the figure clearly now. It's back was to him, hunched in the same position he had been in just seconds before. And it was most definitely not laughing. It flinched painfully at the sound of the growl, enough to bring it's arms down and turn around slightly. John's breath stopped completely as it moved enough for him to see the curve of it's nose the shape of her jaw. John barely got a second to see before the growling toll took her trident and swung the blunt side of it with brutal force against the cowering girl's face, but it was enough. He had seen enough.

Her eyes were violet. And he screamed.

///

Karkat pinched his nose between his fingers, sighing heavily between gritted teeth as he drummed his sharp nails against the heavy wooden table. He and John had been out at sea for a couple months now, and the food stock was running low. THey would last two days, maybe three before he would need to dock and grab some more supplies. He wasn't looking forward to it; Karkat didn't feel comfortable leaving John alone on the ship, but he wasn't exactly jumping to bring him with, either. John probably had enough of trolls to las a lifetime. It didn't take a genius to figure out that he wouldn't be too eager to set foot on land, being a slave and an alien one to boot. John would just have to make do by himself for an hour or two.

Of course, John would have plenty to occupy himself with. It hadn't taken long for him to discover Karkat's collection of movies. He'd instantly become entranced, and became set on watching every on that caught his interest. Unfortunately, there wasn't very much he'd seemed to like. John had made sure to express his opinion on the lack of violent explosions and action, looking at the romance films with a dissatisfied look on his face. Karkat had instantly gone into a long rant on how "the idiot wouldn't know a good movie if it hit him in the fucking face" and how he wasn't able to appreciate how they "effortlessly expressed the finer dynamics of all the quadrants". Imagine his surprise when John didn't even know what /quadrants/ were. John had certainly gotten a lesson on troll culture that day.

Karkat had grudgingly agreed to let John pick out a movie to watch tonight. Anything to get the kid to stop yapping his mouth off for five fucking seconds. He'd only just began to expand his Alternian vocabulary enough to form full sentences and already he didn't know when to shut up. But, he did have to admit, he could appreciate not being expected to hold up any conversation on his side. And, yeah, sometimes it was nice to listen to John talk, although hell would freeze over, warm back up, and then explode before he would ever admit it. Finally, though, karkat had gotten fed up one night and interrupted his friend while he was babbling about something - some human actor in a 'wife beater', whatever the hell that was - and said, "Listen, shitstain, if you're gonna talk my ear off, we might as well do something productive. What was your language called? English or whatever? I've taught you my language, it's about fucking time you teach me yours." John had absolutely beamed at that idea, a bright, goofy smile taking over his face. "R-really?" He'd asked. "That would be so cool! I mean, it was sort of... necessary, for me, but I mean, you don't have to, it's not that big of a deal!” Karkat rolled his eyes.  
“Look at me, you fucking moron. If I don't want to do something, I won't fucking do it. Now teach me something already.” And so the lessons had begun.

It took Karkat a bit longer than John to learn the same first handful of words, which frustrated him to no end. “Augh!” He'd growled, throwing his hands frustratedly in the air. “I don't get it! How is it that you, a fucking moron who doesn't even know what quadrants are, can do this so much better than me?!” John had looked down in embarrassment, wringing his hands together nervously as he shrugged. “I don't know... I don't feel like it, but I was told I was, pretty smart? At... home, I mean. It's why I was even out here in the first place.” Karkat looked at him, feeling a bit guilty even though he couldn't figure out exactly why. He placed his hand on John's shoulder and brought his face closer to his friend's. “Hey. Look at me.” He waited until John locked his bright blue eyes onto his grave ones. “You're with me, ok? There's no need to worry about any of that right now. We clear? Now, you gonna teach me some more of this shit or what?” John nodded, and smiled at him, even though he could see right through it. John was a terrible liar.

Karkat sighed again, still feeling a bit guilty about that for no apparent reason. His emotions were going haywire these days anyways. Of course he had given some thought to trying to find the other humans that had been with John, but in the end it was a bridge best crossed later; it was simply too much to take on at the moment. John had mentioned he had been with others when he was captured, and Karkat was curious. John had shared how Rose was the super smart one (though she could really talk an earful), and Jade was his awesome sister who could shoot a gun really well, and Dave was his really cool bro who acted dumb sometimes but was really just putting up an act. After seeing how much John was worried about his friends, he had tracked down the auctioneer that had sold him John the last time he'd been on land and questioned him until he was sure he was telling the truth, but it proved to be useless. He had gotten John from an anonymous seller for 5,000 marks, a bargain that he hadn't wanted to turn up. In the end, there was absolutely no way to sniff out the others. It was a trail that hadn't really existed for him to follow in the first place.

It was then, while thinking about what he could do, that Karkat heard a scream. He jumped up, startled. Was that... John? “Fucking SHIT!” Was that coming from outside?! Karkat ran through the ship, remembering the last time a situation had occurred, almost exactly like this. What the fuck happened? Did the controls on the collar slip? He thought he'd shut that off! But Karkat knew that wasn't it. This scream was different. It sounded like someone's soul being ripped into pieces. Fuck. “Shitshitshitshitshit!” Karkat burst out onto the ships lawnring, expecting to see... fuck, he didn't know. But whatever it was, it definitely wasn't this.

John was on the floor, his hands inches in front of his face as if he was trying to find himself in the dark. Colorless tears were streaming down his face, and he wouldn't stop screaming, God, what was he trying to say? But that was quickly driven out of his mind as he took in the sight before him. Oh, fucking shit. He could almost feel the blood draining from his own face. The ship was huge, and was embellished with decorations that only a very, very wealthy and very high blood would be able to afford. If that weren't enough evidence for him, it would have been the fuchsia double-edged trident that was painted on the ship's flag. Karkat shook his head, trying to shake off the tendrils of fear that tried to snake their way in. While it was a damned good start, this still didn't explain what had terrified John so badly.

Karkat crouched next to him, not sure what to do. He thought about putting his hand on him, but maybe physical contact would make him worse? God, he didn't fucking know. His reaction was starting to scare him now, just as much if not more than who he knew was the captain of that ship. Karkat seethed at himself. What was he doing?! He grabbed John by the shoulders and shook him. “John! Egbert, what the hell is it?! Snap out of it, what's wrong?” John flinched as he felt the claws on his shoulder, but he slowly stopped screaming. He began to talk, but it was in his own language and it was too fast for Karkat to be able to pick out much with his meager learnings. But in the midst of the gibberish, he was able to understand one word that he kept repeating over and over. Was it... 'rose'? Wait, wasn't that...? Oh. Understanding dawned on Karkat, and the blood drained from his face once again. Fucking hell. 

He looked over to Piexes' ship. It was official. The universe hated him. Whatever gods were out there, one thing he knew they were thinking for sure was “Fuck Karkat Vantas, screw that guy,” because there was really no other explanation for how shitty this situation had gotten. He ran his fingers shakily through his hair before making his way to the transportalizer on the deck. He quickly punched in the passcode that would send a request to the other ship, where it would be received and they would punch in their passcode, allowing him to board their ship through their – fuck, this wasn't the time to be thinking about the process behind this shit! He took the time for them to respond to compose himself. Dealing with a highblood of this rank is dangerous at any given time, but this would be especially tricky. He would need to play the absolutely zero cards he had just right to get what needed to be done, done, and if he wasn't careful, he would be culled before he even had the chance to ask for what he wanted. He couldn't afford to get snippy with a future Empress, especially this one.

Within seconds, he was on the other ship. He immediately tensed when he saw the body on the floor. Was she even still alive? Fuck, this was getting worse second by shitty second. Quickly, he redirected his attention to the girl in front of him. As much as it burned him to do so, he made sure he lowered his eyes as was expected. “Your Condesce,” he said. He eyed her trident warily, her fingers tapping the staff impatiently as blood slowly seeped down one side. “ What the fuck do you want?” 

Karkat took a breath. Time to get this show on the road. “I noticed from my ship that you've acquired one of the new alien slaves – although I wouldn't expect any less from you, Your Condesce,” he added. God, he was going to need to rinse out his mouth later. “I couldn't help but hope that you would be willing to sell it to me, for any price, of course.” 

Meenah Piexes nodded her head towards his ship. “Don't you already have one of those glubbers? What do you want with fucking two of them? Seem damn useless to me.”

Karkat nodded. “Yes, but I wouldn't want to bore you with the details.” Meenah laughed. “Don't want to tell me, you fuckin mean? Fine. I can 'spect that.” She turned to face the girl crumpled on the floor. “This bitch has been glubbin' useless to me. A waste of my good money. 'Snot even fun anymore.” She kicked at the girl's stomach, hard, but she only let out a small, short groan. Yep, still alive.“See what I mean?” She turned back to Karkat, looking him up and down.

“I'll tell you what. I'm feeling pretty generous today. So how about I let you take this away from me and you promise I never have to see it's ugly pink face again?” Holy shit. Was she serious? Karkat almost fucking bowed. “That is very, very kind of you, Your Imperial Condesce. I will never forget your kindness.” Forget rinsing, he was going to have to use acid to get this taste out of his mouth. Before Piexes could change her mind, Karkat was over to the girls side. He placed her as gently over his shoulder as he could without seeming, well, too gentle and warranting suspicion, but he could tell that this girl had some major damage. Her skin was almost as dark as his from what must have been months of sitting in her own filth. He began to walk back to the transportalizer when he heard Piexes say, “One... more thing.” He groaned inwardly. There's a catch. There's always a fucking catch. “Anything,” he said. He turned around to face her. He watched as she walked behind him, and he knew what she was about to do just before she did it. Meenah swung back her fist and brought it square on the relatively undamaged side of the girl's face. The force was enough to make him stumble, and he winced inwardly for the girl's sake. That was definitely going to leave a mark. Making sure his face was still, he turned back to Piexes.

“Anything else?” he asked. Piexes smiled before saying, “Nope. Oh wait, I almost forgot.” She snapped her fingers, and he heard a soft click as what must have been the collar unlatched. It fell off and onto the transportalizer as he stepped onto it, punching in the code for his own ship. He bowed slightly to the troll girl, who waved at him with a lazy, half-bored smile on her face. He couldn't get off that ship fast enough.

As soon as he was back on his ship, he jumped. The collar at his feet burst to life and short-circuited after only a few seconds. Had she... put that thing on full power? He felt sick. Had that bitch “forgotten” to take the collar off, the girl would be dead the moment he had left. He was shaking with anger, but he tried his best to push it aside. Anger would not save this girl now. Hell, he didn't know if there was anything that could, but he'd be damned before he didn't try. He shifted the girl from his shoulder down to his arms, trying to get her into a more comfortable position.

John was nowhere to be seen. Karkat was scared for a second before he saw him inside. Karkat sighed in relief. Thank God he had come to his senses. He heard the water shutting off in the bathroom as he walked in. John came out quickly, and he rushed to Rose's side. He ran his hands over her face like he couldn't believe she was actually there. He said something that was probably along the lines of “Oh my God”, before looking back up to Karkat. John's cheeks were still wet from earlier, and his eyes were red and dry. “Thank you,” he said, knowing now to speak Alternian. “I... Karkat, thank you so, so much...”  
Karkat interrupted him before he could break down again. “Don't thank me just yet. She doesn't look like she's in good shape.” John sniffed, and nodded. Karkat went towards the bathroom. “We need to get her clean first, or she could get an infection. God knows what else is on her besides dirt.” He opened the door to the ablution trap that John had filled before he walked in. Slowly, he lowered her inside the warm water. He heard John shuffling outside the door. “Are you gonna stand there like a fucking mouse or are you gonna help me?” John quickly scurried towards his side, a couple towels in his hands. He handed one to Karkat before dabbing at the blood that soaked his old friend's face.  
A few minutes passed as they each worked on a body part, wincing at every new cut, mark, and gash they found. They had to drain and re-fill the tub more than once, there was so much filth on her. John almost hissed when he got to her leg. “Oh... Oh my God, Karkat, she... she branded her!” John looked up at Karkat with wide eyes once again threatening to spill over. “Why, Karkat? Why would that troll do this to her?”

“Because she's a bitch, that's why! She's next in line for the throne, so she thinks she can do whatever the fuck she wants! I mean, she can, but still! Even for trolls, she's one sadistic, cold-blooded grubfucker.” John looked down, squeezing his eyes shut and clenching his hands into fists around the hem of his shirt. Karkat seethed. Stupid, stupid! John didn't need to hear that, especially now! Here he was again, fucking things up. Typical. “Karkat?” he heard John ask. Karkat looked up to see John wringing his hand like he always did when he was nervous. “Do you... do you think she'll be okay?” Karkat waited until John looked back at him to respond. “Hey. I told you before, didn't I? No matter what happens, I will always be here for you.” John smiled bashfully, and even if it was a little distracted it was definitely sincere this time. Before he could stop himself, Karkat had wound his arms around John and pulled him into a hug. After a few moments, they pulled themselves apart. “We should finish this up. She'll be getting cold soon.” John nodded. 

It took another 20 minutes before they could get her clean enough to be satisfied. Karkat stood and said “I'll be right back.” He walked over to one of the storage bins in the bedroom and gathered up gauze, bandages, and a bottle of antiseptic jelly. When he came back, John had washed what he'd thought was black hair to a pale blonde, patches of which looked to have been cut, or yanked out. Karkat handed the container of ointment to John. “Here,” he said. “Rub this on all of her cuts. It'll keep 'em from going to hell. I'll wrap them up after you.” John nodded, and began to apply the clear jelly on all of her wounds. He winced every time, taking extra care with the chafes on her wrists and...were those lash marks on her back? Fuck, what did Piexes do to this girl? Whatever it was, Karkat made up his mind that she would never have to go through it again. Soon, she was bandaged up cleanly from almost head to toe.

Karkat lifted her up and brought her to John's Respiteblock. After learning that John couldn't sleep in the sopor slime, Karkat had had a couch installed into one of the spare rooms, which they later modified to make more comfortable. There were clothes already layed out on the 'bed', which John must have prepared earlier. They put the over-sized sweater and pants on her as gently as they could before placing her under the softest blanket they could find.

They sat by the bed, listening to Rose's hoarse breathing. John interrupted the silence after a couple minutes. “Karkat?”

“Hmm?”

“I'm sorry about how I reacted earlier. I just saw that troll hit Rose, and I lost it. I don't know what happened... I should have helped you or something...”

Karkat stared at John incredulously. “Are you seriously apologizing to me? Are you fucking serious right now? As if this would ever be considered a situation in which it would be appropriate for you to apologize about something like that! If anything, you should be fucking proud of yourself. I don't know anybody, troll or otherwise, who could have reacted better to seeing one of their friends getting hurt by Piexes, for fucks sake.”

John nodded slightly. “Hehe, I guess your right.”

Karkat watched John for a few moments, who was still wringing his hands. He sighed. I'm gonna regret this, but who the fuck cares anymore. “Didn't you say you wanted to pick out the movie tonight?” John perked up at that. “I mean, if you're not up to it, I could always put on one of my romcoms...”

“No, I do!” John stood up and grabbed Karkat's hand, dragging him to the other room. He went towards the cabinet which held the movies, and rummaged through until he found what he wanted. John held up one of the movies. “I was thinking this one looked pretty interesting!” Karkat looked. He figured John would have picked this one. It wasn't the worst choice. He shrugged. “Lead the way.” 

///

Karkat sat on the plush couch with John leaning his head on his arm, a blanket over them both. John hadn't lasted even ten minutes into the action/romance before he'd passed out. Karkat was pretty tired himself, but... he could wait a little while longer. There were worse ways this day could have turned out, and he shivered to think what could have happened instead. So he stuck around perhaps a little longer than he should have, John's firm weight against his side as the night wore on.

**Author's Note:**

> Once again, thanks for the read! I hope you have a fantastic day filled with glorious, glorious smut! If you're interested, you can chat me up at pinkycry.tumblr.com. Ciao~!
> 
> *EDIT (please read whole thing pls)*  
> oH MY GOB i did not honestly expect to get this much attention ever and it's only been 1 day ;~; thank you all so far and those i hope to come! Jegus, you 135 people have made one homestuck-obsessed fangirl very very happy. 
> 
> I was planning on ending this here, but thinking it over i've started to waver in my convictions. If i get enough of a response i' be willing to continue, possibly for quite a bit, so please speak up or it will most likely not happen!
> 
> Oh gosh I just want to smoosh all of your faces. please DFTBA and have a MOTHERFUCKING AWESOME DAY.


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